A thunderous double boom echoed across New England this past weekend, rattling houses and causing pets to scatter in fear while residents turned to social media for answers.
“Did anyone else hear that boom?”
“Anyone feel that?”
NASA initially confirmed over the weekend that a meteor caused the disturbance, but the space agency shared far more remarkable information on Monday.
The space rock weighed as much as an elephant and measured 5 feet (1.52 meter) across, hurtling through space at 42,000 mph (67,592.5 kph) before hitting Earth’s atmosphere. The object disintegrated high above New England on Saturday, releasing energy comparable to roughly 230 tons of TNT, which NASA said explains the loud booms.
NASA shared these extraordinary facts through a social media update Monday, along with additional data.
The space object consisted of natural materials — not satellite parts or space junk — and streaked through the atmosphere for approximately 26 miles (41.8 kilometers), NASA reported, before plunging into Cape Cod Bay off southeastern Massachusetts.
The space agency emphasized that while meteors happen frequently, most don’t attract this level of attention.
“They often occur over the ocean or unpopulated areas with no witnesses, or during the daytime, making them difficult to spot,” NASA stated.
The incident sparked immediate theories and confusion.
The thunderous sound led residents in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to wonder if an earthquake had struck or if a tree had crashed down. Many shared stories of their dogs becoming agitated. At least one person suggested extraterrestrial activity.
A resident in Peabody, Massachusetts, described thinking a massive tree had struck his home due to the windy conditions that day. After stepping outside, he discovered most of his neighbors gathered in the street with identical questions.
Multiple people submitted reports to the U.S. Geological Survey, documenting the tremors they experienced through the National Earthquake Information Center, agency spokesman Steve Sobie confirmed.
The organization created an event page after receiving numerous “Did you feel it?” submissions on its website. However, Sobie noted that no activity appeared on the agency’s seismographs, confirming the shaking wasn’t earthquake-related.
The American Meteor Society collected dozens of accounts from Delaware to Montreal from people who either heard the double boom, felt ground vibrations, or witnessed the fireball, according to program monitor Robert Lunsford.
